Improved war-turret



G. SN EDECOR.

Gun-Turret.

Patented Novl 24, 1863.

UNITED STATES PATENT OEEICEo GEORGE SNEDECOR, OF NE YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVED WAR-TU RRET.

Specification forming part ot' Letters Peter* No. 40,713, dated November 24, 1863.

T0 @ZZ whom, t may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE SNEDnoon, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a new and useful improvement in the construction of gun-turrets and other ports of vessels ot' war and fortifications 5 and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the saine, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which- Figure l is a horizontal section ot' a turret constructed according to my invention. Figs. 2 and 3 are top or end views of the plates or slabs of iron ot' which the-turret is composed. Fig. 4 is a top or end view of one of the locking bars or keys which aid in securing the plates or slabs together. Fig. 5 is a horizontal section of a system of plates or slabs, illustrat ing a modification of my invention.

Similar letters ot" reference indicate corresponding parts in the several iigures.

The object of this invention is to dispense with the use ot' bolts in the gun-turrets, pilothouses, and other parts of vessels of war or fortifications which are constructed of iron; and to this end it consists in constructing such turrets ot' two or more series of plates or slabs, united by means of dovetail tongues and grooves, so arranged that the faces ofthe dovetails and backs of the grooves are presented toward the exterior and interior ofthe structure, and in such a direction that the impact of projectiles, striking full upon the structure, is prevented from operating upon the dovetails in a lateral direction, and thereby being liable to fracture them with comparative facility.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

The turret represented in Fig. l is composed of two series of plates or slabs, A A and B B, and a series of dovetail keys, O C. The inner series of plates or slabs, A A, are each formed with a haltdovetail tongue, u, at each upright side, projecting outward from the top to the bottom thereof, and the outer series of plates or slabs, B B, have each a dovetail groove, b, extending up and down the middle of its inner face, such groove being of a size and form to receive within it two of the halfdovetails a a on two contiguous plates, A A,

ofthe inner series, and so secure the said c( ntiguous plates together.. Each plate A has also provided in the middle of its outer face a dovetail groove c running from top to bottom, and in the inner face of each plateB there is at each side or upright edge of the pla te a halt' dovetail groove, d, the said grooves c and d being for the reception of the lookin g bars or keys C C, which are made of doubledovetail form.

In building a turret on this plan, the plates or slabs A A are set upright in a circle, edge to edge, and the plates or slabs B B are then raised above them with their grooves b b over the tongues t a, and dropped down into their place, and on the insertion of the locking barsor keys O O into the grooves c cl d, the several parts are so secured as to be equivalent to a solid structure. The plates or slabs A A and B B may be ot' the whole height of the turret or structure, or of any suitable height less than the whole height thereof, and in the latter case the plates or slabs of the two series should be arranged to break joint with each other horizontally, as (it will be seen by reference to Fig. 1), they do vertically.

By reference to Fig. l it will be seen that the faces of the dovetail tongues and the bottoms or backs ofthe grooves are all presented either in an inward or outward direction, so that the dovetails receive the impact of the projectiles in the direction in which. they are best capable of sustaining it, and least liable to be broken.

The plates or slabs A A and B B may be composed of a single piece, the tongues and grooves being produced from the solid metal; or the tongues and grooves may be produced by riveting or otherwise securing strips of iron of proper form to the plates or slabs.

Fig. 5 shows a system of plates or slabs, D D, united by dovetails arranged on a similar principle to that illustrated in the other ti gnres-that is to say, thei'aces ofthe dovetails and backs of the grooves which receive them are presented inward and outward. These plates or slabs are each grooved vertically in the center, as shown at e c, and have ahalt'- dovetail tongue, f, left at each side, each groove being wide enough to receive the halt'- dovetails on two contiguous plates. The middle series of plates has grooves and tongues in and on both faces, but the two other series or slabs of which a gun-turret or other por' tionof a vessel or fortification is composed by means of dovetail tongues and grooves, when the faces of such tongues and the backs or bottoms of the grooves are presented inward and outward7 or in a direction to receive the impact of projectiles, substantially as herein described.

GEORGE SNEDEGOR.

Witnesses THos. L. J. DoUGLAs, M. M. LIVINGSTON. 

